It’s been a week since Apple Inc. scored its $1.05 billion trial verdict against Samsung Electronics Co., winning the most decisive and high-profile victory yet in the still-raging smartphone wars. The trial will continue to be dissected from plenty of angles, from the impact on consumers to what it means for the future of innovation. But any way you look at it, there’s no ignoring the performance of Apple’s quartet of lead lawyers, Harold McElhinny, Michael Jacobs, and Rachel Krevans of Morrison & Foerster and William Lee of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr.
Given the stakes for Apple, Samsung, and the rest of the mobile device industry, it’s no surprise that the San Jose trial became a showcase for some of the country’s top IP litigators, including Samsung counsel Charles Verhoeven and John Quinn of Quinn Emanuel Urquhart & Sullivan. For Apple, McElhinny handled opening and closing arguments and Apple witnesses. Jacobs focused on establishing that Samsung infringed Apple’s utility patents. Krevans made the company’s case on design patents and damages, and Lee (the only lead Apple lawyer from outside the Bay Area) defended against Samsung’s counterclaims and cross-examined a key Samsung witness.
